Living in a Bubble

As mentioned in my previous blog, I am living in an incredible house, with a huge veranda, garden and swimming pool. I have a cook and a security guard. I have access to a car and the majority of my friends are ex-pats. I’m having a great time...but I’m living in a bubble, a complete bubble. This is truly the other end of the ‘African experience’ scale compared to my time in Uganda and, while I’m certainly enjoying myself, I really don’t feel that comfortable. It confirms the opinion I formed when I was in Uganda – I couldn’t live in Africa long-term. Living in a village in Uganda was an incredible experience...but, ultimately, I missed showers, toilets and ovens... Living here, in a big house in Malawi, is also an incredible experience, but it just doesn’t feel real – it doesn’t feel quite right. So many of the population struggle to get access to clean drinking water, and I’m flopping about in my own swimming pool. Don’t get me wrong, I’m incredibly thankful for the opportunity to be here and, as you’ll read below, I really feel like I’m making a positive impact, however small, through the work I’m doing...but I couldn’t live here long term, cut-off from most of the ‘real’ people in the country...

...I was chatting to a friend of mine online recently and she was asking me to compare South America to Africa and which one I preferred – and I had to say South America. Why? Not because the sights in Africa are any less impressive, or the countries are less culturally interesting (in many ways they are more so), but more because I feel like I can just ‘fit’ in South America (once the Spanish is nailed) – you can merge, fully-integrate, become a local...but here, you can never really ‘fit’ – you can never really be considered as an equal with the locals – you are always going to stand out, always going to be considered different and, ultimately, I can’t live my life in that way. It’s important to integrate, to feel comfortable in your environment and to feel equal because, after all, we are all equals – no matter your job, the amount of money you have, your religion, or the colour of your skin – we are all equal!

Sorry, not a particularly original point on which to end those rambling paragraphs...I guess, as with the conclusions I drew from my musings last year, it just proves that someone, somewhere has gone through everything you are going through in your life and, thus, has drawn the same conclusions before... as the human race continues it’s getting increasingly hard to be original..!!

So..work..aside from ‘flopping about in my pool(!)’ I have been working incredibly hard. We have now basically set-up a consultancy company – complete with methodology, templates and processes (Accenture eat-your-heart-out!). I have just completed my first client assignment – producing a business and marketing plan for a private college offering courses in accountancy and business. Not the most exciting business, you may think, but it was a really interesting experience, not least working with, and mentoring, the apprentice consultants that we are training. I received great feedback from the client and the apprentices and I feel like I am finally doing what I thought consultancy was all about before I joined the juggernaut of Accenture – I am having a real and direct impact on businesses – helping them with planning and strategy – making tangible changes that will directly improve their businesses and increase their profits. Yes, spreadsheets are still involved, but this time they are recording cash flow, revenue and expenses, not simply tracking the ‘RAG’ status of project activities.. (apologies for those that have no idea what I am talking about – in essence I’m enjoying what I’m doing, I’m making an impact, I’m doing what I wanted to do when I chose consultancy as a career choice – I’m helping to improve the performance of a business and, thus, the lives of the owners, through direct and practical advice. It feels pretty good and I am feeling something I lost a long time ago with this profession – I feel passionate about what I’m doing).

Something else I’m feeling passionate about is the impending World Cup in South Africa! World Cup fever is well and truly taking hold here and, having extended my stay until mid-June, I am going to at least experience the first few games of the competition In Africa – it’s going to be a cracking atmosphere, can’t wait!

On the social side I have been making the most of my weekends – this really is a beautiful country (see pics). Nothing quite beats driving into a game park in the same vehicle you use to drive to work and coming face-to-face with a ruddy great elephant!! This weekend I am off to climb a mountain to celebrate my birthday in style...29...bloody ‘ell...!!